The girl, the cube, and the cornfield
by Xuleika
Summary: It never took him where he wanted to go, only where he needed to go. And someone desperately needed him now. A meeting with a strange mute girl in a cornfield leads The Doctor on an adventure into the impossible, and he loves impossible things.
1. Chapter 1: A Surprise Encounter

After reading some good Portal fics I felt inspired to try my hand at one. So here is my attempt.

* * *

It never took him where he wanted to go, only where he needed to go. And someone desperately needed him now. It could feel their emotions cry out across space and time, it could feel everything. And so it homed in, following those feelings to the source, to a small, blue planet.

It was a gentler landing that usual. Fantastic! No matter how many times he did this The Doctor could barely contain his excitement. A new place and time to explore always had something exciting in store for him. He knew where he had set the TARDIS to go, so he didn't even bother checking the scanner before dancing over to the door. Of course, that didn't mean he was necessarily where he had wanted to go, but all the better! He loved surprises.

With a bit of a dramatic flourish, even though no one was around to see, The Doctor pushed open the doors of the TARDIS, eagerly awaiting whatever met him on the other side.

He was a little disappointed when it turned out to be just a cornfield.

This was surely not where he had planned to go. He had wanted excitement, adventure, not corn. Well corn wasn't all bad, even if it didn't hold a candle to fish fingers and custard. But still, under the bright yellow light cast down from the sun above, all that stretched out before him was a seemingly endless sea of tall stalks of corn.

Well, he tried to reassure himself; maybe he should go and have a peek around anyway, since you never knew exactly what adventures might be awaiting in corn. And after all, he did have all the time in the universe.

So he carefully stepped out of the time machine and into the sunlight. A fresh breeze rustled the golden stalks as well as his hair as he peered around. The door swung shut behind him as he took a few steps to his left, walking up to and peeking around the side of the TARDIS to see if anything more might be behind it than just corn.

He was genuinely surprised to see a girl standing a few feet away from the blue box. She had a lithe body, dark coloured skin and brown hair pulled back behind her head. She wore an orange jumpsuit over her legs with the top off and wrapped around her waist, a white tank top and a pair of strange glossy white boots with a metal bar on the back of each, keeping her heels off the ground. Next to her sat a large cube object, white with pink love hearts painted on. Behind her sat a small wooden shed.

She stared at him with her eyes wide with surprise.

"Oh, hello there!" he offered in a friendly tone.


	2. Chapter 2: Help Is At Hand

The girl didn't reply to his warm welcome, instead continued to stare between The Doctor and his blue box.

The Doctor, wanting to break the tension, slowly walked over to her, rubbing his hands together in front of him. This was certainly an interesting situation, one that he wanted to get to the bottom of.

"Hi," he repeated a greeting, though the girl still didn't reply. Strange... though she was probably in shock from seeing a blue box materialize in front of her from thin air. "Um, I hope you don't mind me asking, but, who are you? And, possibly, where are we?" he paused for a second to look around. "Well, Earth yes, it has to be considering that sun and you and the corn, however, there are quite a few cornfields in the world so it may be difficult for me to pinpoint this one through guesswork alone, not to say I couldn't of course." He finished, and looked down at her expectantly, looming over her small stature.

All she did was shrug, though at least she wasn't giving him that wide eyed stare anymore.

"I'm sorry, may I ask, why aren't you talking? Are you afraid, or just mute?" he asked, trying not to offend her with his curiosity.

She seemed a bit startled by the question, and then drew a finger over her throat to indicate her inability to speak. Either that or it was the gesture of death.

"Ah, well, that may prove slightly problematic when trying to ask you questions," he said light heartedly, and then paused to think for a moment. "Oh, but wait, can you type? You know, computers and all that? Wait, what century is this? Those boots of yours look pretty high tech so I am probably right in guessing you've encountered a keyboard before? Wait a minute, why are you standing out here in high tech boots with a," he glanced sideways at the cube, "cube thingy, in the middle of a corn field?" his eyes were then drawn to the words on her tank top. Aperture Laboratories. Sounded slightly familiar, maybe he had come across it before?

She nodded in response to his question, but then gave him a suspicious look.

"Oh, I am The Doctor by the way," he introduced himself. He looked for a moment like he was going to go for a hand shake, but then he reached out and grabbed her wrist, looking at her with a gleam in his eye. "Come on now, come with me," he insisted, and tried to pull her towards the TARDIS.

The girl, however, planted her boots firmly on the ground and pulled back against him. He gave her a questioning look, to which, with a scowl, she tilted her head towards the cube. He suddenly let go of her wrist, and she turned and picked up the large white object. He now noticed that it was covered in what looked like burns. The mystery deepened, of the girl, the cube and the cornfield.

She hefted up the cube with some difficulty, and carried it both arms, now willing to follow him towards his ship. As they walked around the TARDIS, however, she had her eyes fixed on it with suspicion, with a touch of fear.

Once they were standing in front of the blue box, The Doctor gave her a cheeky smile and then snapped his fingers and the door opened inwards. The girl gave him another look of shock, before peering into the dimly lit area inside. She didn't seem to want to go in, but The Doctor gestured for her to go. Tentatively she stepped into what would have seemed to her at first glance a small box. He heard her sharp intake of breath and then knew what she had seen. Suddenly there was a thud, like something clattered to the floor, and then the girl sprinted outside, no longer holding the cube, right past him where he stood by the door. She stopped a few feet away and suddenly turned around, looking back at the TARDIS with huge open eyes. The Doctor couldn't help but grin to himself as she ran around the blue box, examining it from all angles, before coming back to the front door and peeking inside again.

As she slowly entered the room again he came in behind her, the door quietly swinging shut behind him. Her boots clinked on the metal grating as she stepped around her discarded cube and up to the console, and then turned around as her eyes tried to absorb what her brain could not understand. Then she outstretched her arms as far in the air as she could, looking back at him intently.

"Yes, I know, it's bigger on the inside," he chuckled, remembering that she couldn't speak. "It's a ship, my ship, the TARDIS. That's Time and Relative Dimensions In Space. In other words, it's a time machine and a space ship, it can go anywhere!"

Suddenly a smile spread across her face, and then she turned her eyes to all the buttons and leavers and lights covering the face of the console.

"Ah, now, don't touch any of that. It could be dangerous," he said, as if he almost didn't exactly know himself. She took the hint, and seemed to retain from touching anything, just gazing at things with wondrous eyes.

"One sec," The Doctor told her, quickly popping out of the room and returning a few minutes later with a small laptop computer. He was already firing up the power on it as he carried it over to her. He placed it down over some of the non dangerous buttons on the console, and her attention turned to its small illuminated screen. He whipped open a word processor and then gestured towards the English keyboard.

"Let's see, let's start off with your name," he said, cocking a questioning eyebrow in the girl's direction. She blinked back, before learning over the computer and typing on the keyboard.

"Chell hey?" he commented on what she had typed up on the screen. "Alright Chell, how about, why were you out in the middle of a cornfield with a cube?" he asked, and while she typed away he briefly brought up information on the TARDIS's screen about their location and date. 2055. Michigan USA. He turned back to the small computer screen to see what she was writing.

"You just escaped... from a secret underground facility... after a rouge artificial intelligence made you do tests with a... portal device... and then tried to murder you... three times," he said as she typed.

She looked up at him and he frowned slightly. "Well, it looks like I am late to the party then, missed out on all the fun. But really, that's amazing. What happened to the evil AI?" he asked.

She turned back to typing.

"She is... still alive? Oh dear, that doesn't sound good," he said, shaking his head, which Chell copied. Then she suddenly seemed to have an idea and quickly typed it out.

"Want to... find... Wheatley? Who is Wheatley?" The Doctor asked in confusion. The typing continued.

"Friend?" he asked again, and Chell nodded, giving him a pleading look. "Okay, where is Wheatley?"

Chell pointed upwards. After the Doctor gave her a confused look, she typed something out quickly.

"The moon. Space," he read off the screen. This only served to confuse him more. "How did your friend get into space?"

More typing. "Portals," was the single word he read aloud now. She gave him another pleading look.

"Well okay, we will go and rescue your friend back from outer space then," The Doctor said with a grin, and a smile broke out across Chell's face too.

* * *

I just want to apologize about butchering The Doctors character, please forgive me.


	3. Chapter 3: To The Moon

The Doctor skidded across the floor as he ran around the console, flipping switches and pressing buttons, nearly seemingly at random. This was the exhilarating part; take off with someone who had never experienced it before. He just loved to see the look on their faces. Chell stood against a railing, cube now next to her feet, looking a little anxious. Her pose faltered as the whole room shuddered at the initiation of take off. The main console whirred and that sound oh how he loved that sound.

Finally the room went still, and he pulled the console screen over to him so he could peer into it. He saw Chell out of the corner of his eye step towards him, her eyes also fixed on the screen. It displayed an image of mostly blackness, with a few bright white dots. Space. She moved closer, seeming to almost desperately search the screen for something. They were both quiet as the TARDIS drifted around the moon, carefully surveying.

Just when she was starting to look slightly disheartened, suddenly a small white ball appeared on the screen. A smile spread across her face, and she seemed to almost jump up and down with excitement. The Doctor had always been susceptible to others happiness, so he smiled too, even though he had no idea what the small white orb was. He spun on his heels and quickly jogged over to the TARDIS door, and much to Chell's apparent surprise and horror, flung open the door. He also noticed her immediately grab for the railing, however, once she realised they were not suddenly being sucked out into space, she let go and cautiously walked over to where he was standing next to the door.

She peered out into the black depths of space with him, the small white ball slowly becoming larger as the TARDIS got closer. Soon the sphere was close enough that she could stretch out her arm and grab it by one of its two strange handles, dragging it inside. As she stepped back and the door swung shut, she reach down and grabbed the other handle of the orb, holding it up in front of her. The something on the front of it opened, revealing a shining, orange light.

Suddenly the smile fell away from Chell's face, despair filling its place as she looked at the orb.

"I am guessing this isn't Wheatley then?" The Doctor asked. Chell shook her head dismally.

"Not in space anymore. Where did space go? Want to go back to space, looooveee spppaaaccceee!" a synthesized voice came from the metal orb, slightly surprising The Doctor.

"Oh, it's a little robot!" he exclaimed, peering down at the metal orb with fascination.

"Are we in space still, where did all the space go? I want to go back to space I love space," the little mechanical voice continued.

"Well you are still in space little guy," The Doctor explained, smiling down at the robot.

"Space? But where, where did the space go?" the robot asked, looking all around itself with its glowing yellow optic. The Doctor shot Chell a questioning look, and she simply shrugged in reply.

"So this isn't Wheatley, but looks like him?" he finally asked her. She nodded. "Well then, we'll just have to have another look around for any little robots floating around in space," he said cheerily, turning around and walking back up to the console. Chell followed him, still holding onto the little orb robot, and set it down on top of her cube.

"You said space, are we going back to space? Let's go to space, love space!" the thing exclaimed again, twisting and turning happily in its casing.

As Chell turned her attention back to the screen, light grey eyes scanning the emptiness of space as they orbited around the moon, the Doctor stepped over to the metal sphere and looked down at it, examining it. He then whipped his sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket and pressing the button ran the tip over the surface of the robot. The sphere seemed to shy away slightly and he scanned it. The top of his sonic screwdriver popped up and then he looked at the reading.

"Oh my, aren't you beautiful! Such an advanced AI, even if your processor is nearly completely corrupted," he paused to muse for a moment. "But it looks almost like... they made you dumb on purpose..." He then turned the screwdriver down to scan the cube. He was surprised when he saw the readings.

"A small amount of artificial sentience? In an inanimate cube? But why? There doesn't seem to be a point to that," he asked hypothetically, rubbing his chin. "Strange, it seems to emit an electromagnetic field that has a calming effect on a human's nervous system,"

"S-space?" the little robot asked tentatively, his optic wobbling as it turned its gaze onto him.

"Your little friend here seem to really like space," The Doctor commented with humour in his voice, patting the sphere lightly before walking back over to Chell, who was still staring intently at the screen. "Do you know what he is for?" he asked casually, leaning back against the console and fiddling with his screwdriver.

Chell turned her attention onto him, and then leaned over the computer to type.

"Oh, so he was supposed to make that evil AI slow down and behave, the one you call GLaDOS," he said after he read her writing.

She nodded, and then continued to type, glancing back up at the screen every now and then. The Doctor kept one eye on the screen and one on her words as she started spelling out more clearly exactly what had happened to her. About being woken up in the facility and forced to test by the malevolent AI, who had then tried to kill her. She had escaped death and then made her way through what she soon found to be the deserted facility and to the central AI chamber to confront GLaDOS, who revealed she had killed all the scientists with neurotoxin so that she could do science as she pleased. Chell described how she has blown up the AI, which in turn had blown her to the surface, however, she had lost consciousness and been dragged back into the facility by a robot.

She then went on to tell of her next awakening, by Wheatley, and how they had tried to escape the facility together. She told of how they had accidentally reactivated GLaDOS and Wheatley had been thrown aside while she was forced to test again. Then Wheatley had rescued her from the testing track and they had attempted to escape again, heading to the central AI chamber once more.

Her story was broken off when the two of them noticed something come into view on the screen. They had now orbited around to the side of the moon that faced the earth, and they had both spotted a small white sphere falling towards the moon's surface. Chell jerked forward and pushed herself up near to the screen, eye locked on that falling object. Then she snapped her head back around to face The Doctor and then started urgently gesturing towards the screen.

He quickly looked down at the console and flipped a few switches to change their directory towards the object, which was getting closer to the moon's surface. However, since the moon had low gravity it would probably not be damaged by the fall, and would rather bounce off. They both watched the screen as the TARDIS moved closer, but then something unexpected happened.

A hole suddenly appeared on the moon's surface, right underneath were the object was falling. It was a hole through to... somewhere, with a blue ring around it. The Doctor heard Chell's sharp intake of breath as something emerged from the hole. He soon realised that it was a large mechanical claw. It extended through what The Doctor could only now assume was a 'portal', one of the strange gates that Chell had spoken of in her story. The claw reached out far enough that it was able to catch the white sphere from its fall. It then quickly retracted back into the portal, and then the hole shut behind it.

Chell raised her fists and slammed them down on the console, scowling heavily at the screen. When The Doctor reached out gently to nearly touch her shoulder she turned to face him, her eyes filled with determination as she pointed aggressively at the screen.

"Wait, are you asking what I think you are?" The Doctor queried. "Are you saying that you want us to dive deep into the bowls of an abandoned science facility, full of dangers, to rescue a little robot from an insane, malicious AI that will surely try and kill us?"

Chell's looked changed from angry to pleading in a split second.

The Doctor smiled.

"Geronimo."


	4. Chapter 4: Into The Depths

The Doctor one again rushed around the console, flipping switches and turning knobs, pushing the ship into the time vortex to they could teleport into Aperture. He hoped he hit the right place, but he had a feeling the TARDIS knew exactly where he needed to go. It always did.

While the ship shuddered and shook as it moved, The Doctor paused for a moment to think.

"We are going to need a plan if we hope to beat her," he then stated, his eyes darted around the room for a second, looking for inspiration. Then his eyes locked onto the small robot still seated on top of the cube. "Ah, perfect!" he exclaimed as an idea came to him, and he rushed over to the metal sphere.

He grabbed up the suddenly frightened looking sphere and turned it over so it was lying on its face. "Wh-what are you doing?" the Space Sphere asked timidly as The Doctor unscrewed its back panel with the sonic and then started fiddling around inside the robot, the sonic now held in his mouth. "H-hey, that tickles!" the robot protested, wriggling slightly in place.

He then picked up the sphere and carried it over to the console, setting it down next to the laptop, Chell having backed away slightly to lean against the railing. He then fiddled around under the console for a moment before grabbing out a loose wire, snaking the cord up and into the back of the sphere, where he attached it to the robots processor. The sphere let of a short garbled cry of static as it was connected to the TARDIS computer.

The Doctor quickly returned the sonic to his pocket and the grabbed the console screen, dragging it around so it was in front of him. His eyes flickered over the diagnostics being run on the new piece of hardware he had connected, and then he grabbed the console keyboard and started typing, eyes fixed to the screen.

After a few minutes of typing, Chell watching him with curiosity, he turned his attention back to the sphere and picked it up, turning it right side up now but still plugged in. The robot opened his optic, pupil expanding as it adjusted to the light, and then looked up at him.

"You, you fixed me!" the sphere squeaked, optic rolling around in its casing."I... I am not corrupted anymore, and I can think about things other than space! I still love space mind you, but woooow, thank you! Where are we? What's going on?"

The Doctor smiled kindly down at the little robot. "You're welcome. Now, however, we have a friend to save. Not that I know him yet, mind you, but if he means so much to Chell he must be a good friend," The Doctor said before turning his attention back to the screen. He began typing in some new code now, which only took him a few minutes to finish as well. "There, we have a plan," he said, unplugging the sphere and going to retrieve his back panel.

As he screwed it back onto the excited little robot, who kept on asking questions, Chell gave him a questioning look. He simply responded with a smile, before grabbing Space Sphere up by his handle and then beckoning to Chell.

"Come on, let's go save your friend," he said, turning his body slightly towards the door.

After a moment Chell gave a small smile and nodded, following him out of the TARDIS door and into the light. It was so bright at first that they both had to shield their eyes as they adjusted from the dimness of the TARDIS interior. The Doctor then noticed that it was so blindingly bright because there were walls surrounding them which were stark white, illuminated by artificial light. The Doctor lowered his hand from his forehead and then quietly surveyed the room.

He assumed that this was one of the test chambers that Chell had described. The only things in the large, plain, white room was a platform that was just out of reach on which sat a cube much like Chell's, a comically huge red button on the ground and a dotted line leading from the button to a round door with a small red X sign next to it. Then he also noticed some small cameras situated high on the walls around the room.

"Who is that?" a calm, robotic female voice echoed through the room, causing both The Doctor and Chell to tense up and freeze to the spot. "Oh, it's you again. What are you doing back here? I thought you wanted your freedom, and I gave it to you. What more could you possibly want from me?"

The Doctor looked sideways at Chell, noticing her face change and set into a look of pure determination, defiance, and strong will.

"Ah, would that happen to be GLaDOS?" The Doctor chimed in, relaxing himself a bit as he strolled around the room casually.

"It has been a long time since somebody has called me by my name," the AI stated after a moment of shocked silence. "How do you know it anyway? Who are you, and what are you doing in my facility?" the questions were asked with slight annoyance.

"I am The Doctor," he announce proudly, smiling up at one of the cameras. "And I just thought I would drop by to have a chat."

"The Doctor? Don't you mean _a_ doctor? Like one of the Aperture scientists? I thought I had managed to kill them all, apart from the scruffy rat," the camera started down at him and seemed to flex its optic slightly. "And while you do look scruffy, my facial recognition banks have informed me that you are not he. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter why you are here now. Since you are here, and you are in the test chamber track, I could use you to do a little testing for me," the voice stated. "As I have said before, Chell, you must really love to test. Maybe that is why you are back."

"This test, however, is impossible without the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, and so my testing protocols dictate that I must provide you with one, to continue testing for the good of science," just as the AI finished talking there was a whirring sound of machinery as a floor panel moved, a claw snaking through and holding up a black and white metal clawed device. Chell went over and picked it up, after which the claw retreated and the floor panel slid back into place.

"I will also be taking your magic box," GLaDOS then stated, and a look of panic twisted The Doctor's features as he quickly spun around to look back at the TARDIS. It was already sinking into the floor on a retreating panel, and was gone before he could sprint over, a new panel moving into place to prevent him from following his ship. He put down the Space Sphere and whipped out his sonic, running it over the panels of the floor, but with little luck.

"Please proceed with the test," the clam female voice encouraged. The Doctor grabbed up the sphere again by its handle and looked back over at Chell. She was standing stock still in one place, head turning as darting eyes surveyed the room. Then she hefted up the device with both hands and pointed it at the wall next to the platform. Out of it shot a strange blue beam, that when it made contact with the wall spread out into a blue shaped oval. Then Chell shot an orange beam at a wall panel at ground level, creating an orange oval which then turned into a hole. She jogged through the hole and came out of the blue hole onto the platform.

The device seemed to use some sort of gravitational field to pick up and suspend the cube in front of its claw like projections, and Chell used it to carry the cube effortlessly back through the portal and across the room, placing it down on the button. A small electronic sound was heard and the door slid open.

"I would say well done, but I know that this chamber was child's play to you," the robotic voice chimed in again. "I am quickly trying to put together something harder for you, a nice challenge. Maybe after you are done with that I can finally reveal to you that real surprise I had saved up for you, you know, the one with tragic consequences. I never did get a chance to use the good confetti, which was such a pity."


	5. Chapter 5: Real Confetti

As The Doctor and Chell proceeded through the door and down the stairs to the small elevator, he attempted a change of subject. "So GLaDOS, Chell told me a lot about you, and I was curious as to why you killed all of the scientists with deadly neurotoxin," he asked casually as they squeezed into the tiny elevator space. Good thing they were both slender.

"Well, it was simple really. They were getting in the way of me testing. You see, I knew I would be much more efficient without them, and they kept on trying to slow me down with the cores. It seemed only logical that I should rid myself of them, for the better of science," GLaDOS calmly explained as they rode the elevator downwards.

The Doctor pondered this silently until the elevator came to a halt on the next floor and the door opened. He, Chell and the Space Sphere bustled out of the cramped space and made their way up to the next test chamber.

"I apologise again that this test will be an easy one. But do not worry, the next one is sure to be much more suited to someone such as yourself," GLaDOS informed them, directing it mostly at Chell.

This room once again contained a large button and a door, thought this time there was a very large platform to their right which was very high out of reach. The walls surrounding the platform were different from the usual white panels of the test chambers; they seemed to be made of a dark metal.

"I think I should explain, for the benefit of your friend The Doctor, that those dark panels are not a surface that supports portals," GLaDOS stated. However, when the doctor turned to look at Chell she was already shooting a portal up high on the wall to their left and another lower in the wall.

"Wait, what are you doing?" The Doctor asked with surprise as she stepped though the portal into thin air. He quickly turned his head to look up as she fell from the portal above. Then she suddenly shot her second portal onto the ground, right where she would land, shooting straight tough it at high speed. She reappeared from the other high portal and sailed across the room.

The Doctor watched in fascination as she flew through the air, clutching her portal device, legs stretched out, graceful as a swan. She disappeared from his sight as she landed on the platform. After a few moments her head peaked over the edge, and she stood next to it, cube now floating in the portal guns anti-grav field. She looked down at him and smiled.

"Wait, how are you going to get down?" he asked. It was a long drop. But before the words had even fully left his mouth she was falling again, making a graceful landing on the white panelled floor. Ohhh, so _that's_ what the boots were for.

GLaDOS made no comment as Chell placed the cube on the button and opened the door, which they then proceeded through and down to the elevator.

They passed though a couple more tests, these ones much harder puzzles to solve than the last two, as the AI had promised. Chell didn't seem to be very phased by the difficulty of the tests; each room they entered she would scrutinise for a few moments before finding the answer and then acrobatically leaping through portals to open the door. The door was always at ground level though; to make sure The Doctor could proceed though.

At the end of their 5th test chamber GLaDOS finally spoke up again for the first time.

"You are doing very well, as always. I may have something more to add to the recommendations part of your file by the end of this. I also think you will really enjoy the next test. It is also the surprise. I have the confetti ready and everything."

Chell shot The Doctor a worried look, which made him feel uneasy. What did the psychotic AI have planned for them in the next chamber? When would they be able to escapes and find Wheatley? GLaDOS had yet to mention anything of the little robot at all. The doctor had tried to find a way out of the test chambers with his sonic screwdriver, but to no avail. They were mostly at the AI's mercy.

The two unlikely companions crept into the next test chamber, not sure what to expect. There was no sign at the start as there had been with the others, indicating components of the test and the test number. They were not sure what they expected to find.

It was rather darker in this chamber than it had been in the others, GLaDOS must have dimmed the lights. But the dimness was pierced as they carefully rounded a corner, as several red laser points lined up on both of their bodies.

"I see you."


	6. Chapter 6: The Rat In The Wall

"Target acquired."

The high pitched feminine voice rang out through the corridor, followed by the sound of gunfire. Before The Doctor or Chell even had time to react, the wall panel next to them had slid open and two hands had reached out, grabbing one of them each, dragging them into the dark space behind the wall.

"Are you still there?" the voice sang out again, becoming muffled as the panel shut behind them.

The Doctor blinked in the dimness, his eyes adjusting to peer at the figure that now stood in front of him and Chell, who had just let go of them after dragging them into the hole. It was a man, wearing a white lab coat over a white shirt and pants, with scruffy black hair, beard and wild looking eyes. As the man steeped back away from them slightly, one hand rubbing the back of his head, The Doctor also noticed the cube strapped to the man's back, similar to the one Chell had had.

"Oh, hello there," The Doctor said in a friendly manner, smiling at the man. But the man seemed to ignore him, instead focusing on Chell, who was giving him a confused look.

"Wh-why d-did you come back? Y-you escaped! Why oh why did you come back down here, C-Chell," the man said in a distressed tone, his gaze darting all around him.

"Wait, you know him?" The Doctor asked Chell. She shook her head in confusion, but then seemed to be struck by an idea. She stepped up against one of the walls in the crawl space and then made a motion with her free hand against it, as if she was drawing without a pencil.

The scruffy man nodded tentatively. "Y-yes, that was m-me," he said. Realisation seemed to hit Chell, and then she smiled at him kindly.

"So, you must be the scruffy scientist that GLaDOS was talking about," The Doctor exclaimed, noting that the man winced when he said the AI's name. "What is your name, friend?"

"D-Doug," the man stated, looking nervously between the two of them and wringing his hands.

"Well Doug, thank you for saving us," The Doctor beamed at him, trying to put the obviously distressed man at ease.

"S-so, why are you back here?" Doug asked, looking between the two of them again.

"We are here to rescue Chell's friend, Wheatley," The Doctor explained. Doug's eyes went very wide, and he turned to stare at Chell.

"B-but why Ch-Chell? E-even after what h-happened?" Doug asked her, in clear distress.

"She can't talk you know," The Doctor said.

"I... I know. We... t-they started to remove the test subjects v-voices, because talking wasn't part of the t-test," Doug stammered out, looking guiltily at the floor.

The Doctor's expression set in a firmly disapproving look at this information. "Cutting vocal chords, unsafe test chambers filled with acid moats and lasers, what kind of monsters were these people?" he asked aloud.

"I know, I kno-...no... no no no no!" Doug exclaimed, clutch at his head. Sweat dripped down his face and his eyes widened. He back up against the wall behind him and gently slid to the ground, sitting there and muttering to himself incoherently.

The Doctor was instantly on his knees beside the man, and Chell stepped over to look down upon him with a worried expression. The Doctor gripped the scientists shoulder tightly and looked at his face. He placed the Space Sphere down in front of Doug as he tried to calm the man down.

"Some sort of schizophrenic or paranoia fit," he said, watching the man's darting eyes closely.

"Oh, hello there Dr Rattmann!" the Space Sphere cheerily chimed in, looking up at the scientist with its large orange optic.

This seemed to instantly break Doug out of his fit, and he stopped trembling and looked down into the eye of the robot.

"W-wait, why have you got h-him?" he asked The Doctor, eyes fixated on the sphere.

The Doctor, feeling a sense of relief, smiled at him.

"I have a little plan in mind," he said teasingly.

"P-plan? What sort of p-plan?" the scientist asked cautiously.

"One to stop her," The Doctor said as he kept grinning.

Doug seemed speechless for a moment. "H-H-H-HER?" he asked, and started trembling slightly again.

The Doctor nodded. "You can calm down Dougie, it's all right now, we are here to help," he reassured. "Think you can stand up and come with us, show us the way to go? We could really use your help, you probably know this place better than either of us," he encouraged.

Doug shakily got to his feet, smoothed down his dirty lab coat slightly and looked into The Doctor's eyes. "You want to... get to her?" he asked softly. The Doctor nodded. Doug took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again, and they seemed a lot more focused than before. "O-okay, I will show you the way."

Soon they were off again, jogging to keep up with the scruffy scientist as he scuttled his way through the secret passages and across catwalk outside of the test chambers walls. He was very surefooted on his path, as if he had traversed it many times before. The weight of the large cube on his back didn't seem to bother him at all. However, The Doctor did realise that he seemed to favour one leg in a slightly limp, which then brought to his attention the bandaged wrapped around Doug's leg with a bloodstain on it.

Eventually they came to a vent in the wall, and they followed as Doug crawled through it and dropped into the room beyond. It was a small office room it seemed, though they had no time to investigate it as Doug hastily took off through the one exit door. They now entered a sort of long room with many windows. Out of the windows The Doctor could see a vast expanse of empty space, with some sort of large round room suspended in the middle, connected to the room they were in by a long corridor also filled with windows.

"This is it," Doug whispered, pointing at the round room with a shaky finger. "The central AI chamber."

"Well come on then, let's go," The Doctor announced, striding up the stairs that lead to the long corridor. But he noticed that behind him, Doug seemed hesitant to go, lingering back and wringing his hands, eyes darting left and right again.

"It is going to be okay Doug; I promise I will get you both out of here safely, alright?" The Doctor reassured.

Doug seemed comforted enough by these words, as he carefully followed behind Chell and The Doctor's lead along the long corridor.

The doors to the chamber slid easily open upon their approach, revealing the grey room inside. As they stepped inside The Doctor noted that it was very simple and didn't contain much, just like the many test chambers. The only thing of note to occupy the room was the huge metal body dangling from the ceiling in the middle of the room, a bright yellow optic glaring at them.

The AI seemed to give an audible sigh.

"Why is it that none of my surprises ever seem to work?"


	7. Chapter 7: The Reunion

"And you weren't even there for the confetti, how disappointing," the female robotic voice continued.

"Oh my, aren't you beautiful!" The Doctor exclaimed, stepping forwards and stretching out his arms as he gazed up at her. "You are so much bigger than I thought you would be, and such a wonderful design. And clever, ohhhh are you clever. A learning AI that has its own opinions and ideas, with, what is that? Early 21st century technology? How did they do it? You shouldn't be possible, and I love impossible things!" The Doctor practically laughed at the end of his ramble, still gazing at GLaDOS with shining eyes. "What does it stand for: GLaDOS?"

"Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System," the AI responded automatically, seeming to shift a little uncomfortably in her position. "But what does that matter to you, invader of my facility?"

"Ohhh I see, so they made you using a living persons mind, very clever. However... it seems that things such as morality and guilt didn't carry over," The Doctor mused.

"I deleted her, and those emotions are not conductive to performing science," GLaDOS said defensively. "Why are you here? What do you want from me?" Her optic then seemed to focus on something behind The Doctor. "Oh look, it's the little rat. I had hoped that you had died when you got shot, coming back into the facility trying to save the mute lunatic. I knew you were insane, but that was just plain stupid."

The Doctor turned his head around to see Chell looking at Doug with surprise and questioning. Doug himself was cowering slightly, trying to look anywhere but at GLaDOS. Then The Doctor's attention was grabbed by a different voice coming from the ceiling above them.

"Wait, mute lunatic? Oh good gods, it's you!" a male voice with a heavy British accent cried out, and The Doctor craned his neck backwards to look up at the ceiling. Out of a hole in the ceiling a large mechanical claw hung down, clutching a small metal sphere with a bright blue optic.

Movement caught The Doctor's attention, and he turned to see Chell run forwards to stand directly beneath where the sphere hung, jumping with happiness as she reached up towards it, even though it was very far out of her reach.

"Oh am I glad to see you! All six of you! Wait no, that's just my head spinning. This height is a bit dizzying, so if you would like to get me down that would be wonderful," Wheatley suggested, giving the best impression of a nervous grin that his optic and eye shields would allow.

"You came back from him?" GLaDOS said in amazement, staring at Chell. "But why? After what he did I thought you would be pleased that he would be stuck in space. Or are you looking to administer some punishment yourself?"

"We are just here to help," The Doctor stated cheerily, and then held up the Space Sphere in front of him.

"Wait, is that..." GLaDOS squinted at the sphere. "What do you plan to do with that?"

"_Warning: Central core is ninety one percent corrupt. Manual core replacement required. To initiate a core transfer, please deposit substitute core in receptacle_." an automatic male voice droned over the speaker system.

"Oh, that's me, isn't it?" The Space Sphere chimed up happily, spinning its optic around.

"N-no! Not this again!" GLaDOS protested as a floor panel moved away to be replaced by a core receptacle.

"NO! I don't want to be a potato again! Stop!" she pleaded desperately as The Doctor carried the Space Sphere over to the receptacle and plugged him in.

"W-wait! Hold on a minute!" Wheatley cried out. "If she loses control she will drop me! I don't want to die!"

"_Alternate core detected. Substitute core, are you ready to st-_" the sentence abruptly ended with a garbled noise and fizz of static, just as all the lights in the room dimmed considerably and the background noise of machinery died down.

"What is going o-" GLaDOS also broke off mid sentence as her body went limp and her optic dimmed.

The claw in the ceiling holding Wheatley up suddenly slackened its grip and he fell out, plummeting towards the floor. He screamed as he fell and closed his eye shields, preparing for impact. But he never hit the ground. He trembled, hovering in mid air for a moment, before he cracked open his eye shields and peeked out, seeing that Chell had caught him with the portal gun's anti-grav field.

"Oh...oh! You caught me! You saved me!" the little robot exclaimed happily, gazing up at Chell. She carefully placed the portal gun down on the floor and then picked him up out of the anti-grav field by one of his handles, then gripping the other one with her other hand.

"Oh Chell, I am so very sorry about what I did to you. I was a horrible bully and a monster and I wish I could take it all back, I really do. I-I don't expect that you would forgive me, but I had really hoped you might..." the sphere let his rambling trail off, and then looked up at her hopefully. She nodded at him, and smiled.

"Wh-what? You forgive me, you really do? That's wonderful!" he spun around happily in his casing. "I-I can't believe it! You would forgive me after I tried to kill you and then come all the way back in... in here, just to rescue me? You are brilliant, you truly are. And I promise I won't ever be a crummy friend ever again. Really."

"Wait, he tried to kill her?" The Doctor asked nobody in particular, staring in amazement at the girl in the orange jumpsuit as she pulled the sphere close to her chest and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Right in that moment he saw how amazing she really was: she was so strong and so kind, and never gave up, not even when trying to rescue a friend who had apparently tried to kill her. He glanced across at Doug, who he realized as also staring at Chell and the robot, and endearing look in his eyes.

"She has brain damage, its little wonder that she is making bad decisions," GLaDOS's voice stated calmly. The Doctor spun back around to face the AI, whose body was still mostly slumped but had a little life in her optic. Mostly disabled, but still functioning.

This suddenly reminded The Doctor of what he had been doing. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it down at the Space Sphere, still plugged into the receptacle. The sphere's optic twitched slightly and then there was a noise as another floor panel slid away to be replaced with a white control panel, rising up to waist height. The Doctor went over to the panel and after a cursory inspection of the various buttons and switches, pressed a few buttons which brought a screen on the panel to life.

"What did you do to me," GLaDOS queried in a sluggish voice, as if it was effort just to speak. "What are you going to do now?"

"Oh just a few little viruses to slow you down to give me a chance to fix you," The Doctor said nonchalantly, typing away on a little keyboard on the control panel, his eyes on the little screen.

"What? Fix me? What do you mean?" GLaDOS asked in a slightly distressed tone.

"Well you see," The Doctor began, still typing away, "As a genius, I feel I may be able to fix the corruption problem with your core. There must be a problem in the central programming that is causing it, that the scientists couldn't figure out. If anyone can fix it, it is me. Hopefully it will stop you from being so evil," he stopped typing for a moment and glared down at the screen. "Damn it, it needs a password for authorisation. I am not sure if I can hack it easily..." he broke off, thinking hard.

"I-I have administrative rights," Doug said tentatively, slowly moving over to the panel. "I can put in my password," he offered, stepping up next to The Doctor but keeping a wary eye on GLaDOS.

"Brilliant!" The Doctor said, steeping aside to allow the scientist access to the keyboard. Doug leaned over the panel and typed in the code, before stepping back away and giving the Doctor access again. By now Chell had wandered over holding Wheatley in one hand by his handle and the portal gun in the other. They all crowded around the console as The Doctor began typing again.

"No, no, what are you doing. I can feel you in my code. It tickles, stop that, you don't know what you're doing. You're going to break me," GLaDOS continued to protest, wriggling around in her position.

"There!" The Doctor exclaimed, and brought his fist down on one of the many buttons on the console. GLaDOS suddenly went limp again, and then the lights failed and they were all plunged into nearly complete darkness. The only light now was coming from the end of the portal gun and Wheatley optic. They could barely see each other in that faint blue light, and all of them stood still as they waited in the darkness.


	8. Chapter 8: I Want You Gone

After a few moments on nearly complete silence there whirring of machinery came back, shortly followed by the lights. They blinked in the sudden brightness and then collectively turned their attention to the large robotic metal body hanging from the ceiling. Her optic brightened up again and she slowly lifted herself up slightly to look up at them. Her chassis swinging slightly she refocused her optic on them.

"I feel... different..." she said cautiously, looking around herself. "I... no longer fell like killing you all... or anyone... strange..."

"It worked!" Doug exclaimed in amazement, looking up at the AI with wide eyes.

"Yes... I guess it did..." GLaDOS commented, looking a little bewildered. Then she focused on The Doctor. "You. Doctor. I... could you do something else for me?"

"What is it?" The Doctor asked with suspicion.

"Could you also get rid of... the testing itch?" she asked hopefully.

"Oh, that easy!" The Doctor said, turning his attention back to the console screen and typing away for a few moments. "There we go!"

"Ohhhhh yes... it feels so good to be rid of that," she said, the chassis shuddering slightly.

"I can't believe that you fixed her! So she is no longer murderous? That's brilliant that is," Wheatley commented in high spirits.

"Thank you, Doctor. But I must ask if you would leave now. I have testing to get back to. Science needs me," the AI stated calmly. "I can call down an elevator to the surface."

"Actually, if you could give me back my blue box that would be perfectly fine," The Doctor said. GLaDOS seemed to give him a strange look, before a floor panel fell away and the TARDIS rose through the floor.

The Doctor smiled and pulled the Space Sphere off the receptacle, which caused the receptacle and the console to sink back into the floor again. As he gestured to the other to come over to the TARDIS, GLaDOS spoke again.

"What is it, by the way? That box, I cannot figure it out. It would not open for me."

"It's a ship that can travel across time and space," The Doctor said with a grin, pulling open the TARDIS door and ushering the others inside.

"But... that is impossible," GLaDOS said, giving him a look of suspicion.

"Just like you, and this whole place," The Doctor said, maintaining the smile as he stepped inside the TARDIS and the door shut behind him.

He stepped inside to see that Doug had collapsed to his knees, staring around himself with awe, his eyes wide and body trembling. Chell had placed Wheatley and the portal device on the floor and was crouched down next to Doug, reassuring hand on his should and worried look in her eyes. The Doctor just then realised what something like this could do to such an unstable mind as Doug's. He approached them carefully, moving around in front of the scientist and setting the Space Sphere down next to Wheatley.

"It's, it's..." Doug stammered, looking around wildly.

"It's okay Doug," The Doctor reassured, kneeling down in front of Doug and smiling gently at him. The scientist then focused on his face, and with some deep breathing, seemed to calm himself. Chell helped him shakily to his feet, and over to a chair to sit down. She helped him untie his cube from his back and placed in next to his feet, then staying by his side.

The Doctor grabbed up the two cores and walked towards the console, setting Space Sphere down on top of Chell's cube again and bringing Wheatley right over to the console and place him on it.

"Oh, oh, well this is all very, uhm, fantastic really," Wheatley commented, looking around the room. "W-what it is? Does it really travel through time and space? Why is it so much bigger inside? And who are you?"

"I am The Doctor, and this is my TARDIS. It's like a space ship, and it is going to get us out of here," he explained with a grin, pressing buttons and flipping switches, preparing for takeoff. Then he pushed on the accelerator and the room shuddered and the TARDIS phased out.

"Wow, that is quite impressive that is, really," Wheatley remarked happily. "So where are we going?"

"Gotta get out, gotta get out to the surface..." Doug muttered to himself, still looking rather distressed as he held his shaggy haired head in his hands.

"I think we will pop up to the surface first," The Doctor said. Then he seemed to have a thought, and walked into another room before returning shortly later.

A few moments later the TARDIS had landed and they stopped moving. Chell helped Doug to his feet again and he grabbed up his cube and carried it to the door. Once Chell helped him to the door and then opened it, letting him out, she quickly grabbed up the portal gun and ran back to place it on the chair. The Doctor grabbed up Wheatley by his top handle and made his way over to the door too. Chell moved past him, and after carefully moving the Space Sphere to the ground, picked up her own cube and followed him out of the TARDIS.

They were greeted once again by the expansive field of corn, bright and yellow under the sun's rays. The Doctor noticed that the scientist had already walked into the field, and was now seated in the middle of the corn, cube by his side, staring up at the clear blue sky.

"Oh wooooow! Look at this place; it is nothing like the facility! Is this outside, the surface? I have never seen outside before, this is amazing!" Wheatley exclaimed, rolling around in his casing happily, trying to look in every direction at once.

Chell turned to The Doctor and raised a suggestive eyebrow at him, giving him an expression as if to say "could you give us a few moments?", jerking her head towards Doug. The Doctor realised what she was saying, and went to move away, but then remembered something. He rummaged around in his coat pocket and produced a small cell phone, offering it out to her. She smiled and took the device from him.

"I assume you know how to use one," he said, and she nodded. "Now ummm... Wheatley, I have something very important to discuss with you inside," he started backing into the TARDIS as Chell made her way over to Doug.

"Oh, what could that be? But wait, where is she going? What are they doing?" Wheatley asked, craning to see Chell as The Doctor closed the TARDIS door.


	9. Chapter 9: Guardian Angel

Chell slowly walked across the field towards the scientist, hefting the large companion cube in her arms. When she finally reached him she placed her cube down gently next to his. He didn't even seem to notice her, his eyes instead focused on the large expanse of blue sky above him.

She turned on the cell phone, opened up a new message and started typing. When she was done she gently tapped Doug on the shoulder. He seemed to come out of his trance and turned to look up at her. She handed him the phone, which he took in silence and read the message on the screen.

_I think my cube would like to be friends with yours, is that okay?_

He looked back up at her with surprise, and then quickly nodded. She smiled and sat down next to the cubes, taking back the phone he offered out. She typed out another message, handing it over for him to read.

_Thank you for coming back into the facility to save me, and all your help. I couldn't have done it without you. You saved me._

"You saved me too," he said quietly as he handed the device back over once again. He rested his hand down on his cube, turning his head back to look off into the horizon too.

Chell reached out carefully and took his hand in hers, resting her arm on his cube as well. At the touch he tensed up and quickly looked back at her, then down at their hands. She gave his hand a soft squeeze, and when he looked back up at her face she smiled. He smiled and squeezed her hand back, before they both looked back out into the distance, the gentle breeze running through their hair.

_The angel from that long grey path_

_Found me today_

_They saved my life, took my hand_

_and smiling, showed me the way_

* * *

Okay, time to clear up a few things.

I apologize to anyone who is not a fan of the Chell/Rattmann pairing about this chapter. However, I don't think it comes across very strongly, in fact, it could be seen that they are just holding hands in a comforting way, since it is nice to have someone who understands what you have been through because they have been through it too.

The poem at the end is written so it could be either of them that is talking.

Now, I could either leave this as a completed story, or I could make a second part and continue the adventures. But I want your opinion. Do you want to see the adventures of the madman with the blue box, the mute lunatic, the schizophrenic scientist, the bumbling moron and spaaaaaaace sphere? Let me know in the comments. I am sure there is lots of adventures they could have in other video games worlds.


End file.
